Friday, September 30, 2011

Don't you just love this wonderful Fall weather that we are having? It is such a welcome relief from the Summer that we had. We have been really busy getting all our Fall decorations out and beginning to cook Fall recipes. I want to remind you that we have The Texas Star Chili Cook Off beginning on October 1, 2011. Sure hope that you are planning on bringing your very best bowl of chili. Get All The Details Here.

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Happy Fall Ya'll and Welcome to Full Plate Thursday! I am so happy that you could come over today to share this great party with us. Come right over here and we will get your food out on the table I just know it will be delicious. Thank you so much for coming today and please come back soon!

When we were young and just starting out in life sometimes we did not have a lot of money. Most of our friends were having to stretch the dollars at the end of the month just like us. My girlfriends and I decided that we would pool our food for some of the evening meals right before payday... the last week of the month. I have some of the fondest memories from those days. We would all bring our food together and we had some great food and great fellowship. We would get the food on the table and everything ready, someone would bless the food and then the hostess would say "come fill your plate".

I have just a few suggestions before you leave your dish and fill your plate.

Link directly to YOUR RECIPE and not to your web page.

Scroll down to the button that says "click here to enter"

You will be asked to give your URL ( which will be your direct link to your post), the name of your recipe, and your email which we will not be able to see.

Then you will be asked to select a thumbnail from your post that will be uploaded to your entry.

Please include a link back to Full Plate Thursday, somewhere on your post. We will give you a gentle reminder if you forget...

Please leave me a comment before you leave the page and let me know that you are here, I want to be a good hostess.

Don't forget to visit with all the others, after all that is part of the fellowship that makes it so much fun, in addition to all the good food of course...

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

We are coming to the end of our growing season for tomatoes and I made some Oven Dried Tomatoes the other day, they are so delicious. I use the Oven Dried Tomatoes (Here) as a base for this recipe. I just love this recipe, because it is so versatile. You can have it as a cold salad or a hot casserole, it is the greatest!

Pour 2 tablespoons of Olive Oil into a hot skillet and saute the zucchini, onion, red pepper on medium heat until the onion is clear.

Add the cooked chopped chicken and mix well. Add the tomato paste and the water and mix well, then add the chopped Oven Dried Tomatoes and mix.

Add the basil, oregano, salt pepper and black olives then mix well. Leave the chicken and veggie mix on simmer, while you cook the pasta.

Cook the pasta according to package directions and drain well and rinse in cold water to stop the cooking process.

In a large container mix the chicken and veggie mix with the pasta and add the shredded mozzarella.

Here you make the decision, which will it be, a nice cold Pasta Salad or a nice hot Pasta Casserole.

For The Salad

Place in refrigerator and chill for at least 2 hours before serving, add the fresh shredded Parmesan to the top right before serving.

For The Casserole

Place in a baking dish and add the shredded Parmesan to the top of the casserole. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Chop The Veggies

Chop The Oven Dried Tomatoes

Add The Chopped Chicken

You Should Just Smell This Wonderful Dish

The Salad

Or

The Casserole

Hope You Enjoy It!

I sure am glad that you stopped by today to try out both of these great dishes. Be sure and let me know which one you like the best or maybe you want both, I did. I hope that you are getting your Chili Recipe ready for theThe Texas Star Chili Cook Off (Details Here), it is going to be so much fun! Hope to see you again real soon!

Sunday, September 25, 2011

We are so excited it finally RAINED !! We got about 2 inches and are supposed to get some more soon. We are down 16 inches for the season so far. However it is cooler now and we can sit on the new back porch. Come on back and we will sit out here on the new porch and visit for a while. Don't forget about the big event beginning on Oct 1st through Oct 31st. I just know that you will be bringing your very best bowl of Chili to The Texas Star Chili Cook Off.

Saturday, September 24, 2011

We just love tomatoes, green, red, yellow, black, all colors of beautiful tomatoes. We have tomatoes for slicing, for canning and just enjoying. You can grow a tomato just about anywhere, in a garden area, on the patio in a container and even upside down in a basket. We start our tomatoes from seed and the process usually starts in January.

Friday, September 23, 2011

The day my book came in the mail I was so excited. I got my cup of tea and sat down to really enjoy the new cook book. The first thing I noticed was the size, it was just perfect for my cookbook shelf, it would fit there nicely without being to tall, to small or just to large. I love the texture of the pages, a nice feel to my hands as I scanned every page so carefully. I began to notice that many of the photo's looked very familiar to me because I had traveled some of the same roads many times, it was home for me.

Lisa Fain, a seventh generation Texan found herself working in Manhattan and searching for the right ingredients to prepare the thing that speaks to all of us when we are lonely, and that is food from home. The taste, the comfort that only comes from the smells, the texture and the flavors of the food that gives us comfort. Lisa began to blog in 2005 and from that beginning The Homesick Texan Cookbook was developed.

This cookbook will take you on a tour of Texas, its people and culture and the wonderful food that is such an important part of that culture. From the far West Texas Oil towns to the high rises of Houston and Dallas to the small fishing villages on the gulf, to her heart and soul, the farm where she spent so much time as a young woman.

Lisa has put together a glossary of terms and even photos of those special chili peppers that add so much flavor to the recipes, making it so much easier to stock the Texas Pantry. The recipe's range from Pickles to Sweets with the classics in between, 12 chapters packed with adventure in the Texas cuisine. One of the first thoughts I had upon reading the recipes for the first time was, that gal can cook ! Now after cooking several of her recipes in the past few weeks, I still think the same thing even more so, That Gal Can Cook!!

As a native Texan, I have come to have a very deep appreciation for this cookbook. One of my favorite photo's is of her grandmother holding her pail of Black Eyed Pea's. What a familiar scene that was for me. Lisa takes you on a journey with her touching stories of her childhood and school days here in the state that she loves so much. I too lived away from Texas for a number of years and understand what it is like to search for the food and the culture that means so much to your lifestyle. She has created a way for all of us to enjoy a little bit of Texas anytime we like, all we have to do is open The Homesick Texan Cookbook and start to cook.

It has been an honor and a privilege for me to be asked to be a part of this Spotlight and Cook Off for The Homesick Texan Cookbook for the past few weeks, I have loved every second of this adventure! Thank you so much to Heather at Girlichef who has been our host for the event and our sponsor Hyperion. If you would like to check out the recipes that I prepared from The Homesick Texan Cookbook please go to these links.

Miz Helen

Cookbook Author Recipe Developer Organic Gardner

Welcome to my Country Cottage, come on in and make yourself at home, stay and have a cup of tea. We will be sharing, Miz Helen's Kitchen where we have simple family friendly, meal plans, and recipes. Other features include, The Garden Gate, Quiet Time, Day Trips and Max Time. The blog is the home of Full Plate Thursday and The Texas Star Chili Cook-Off. Enjoy your time here, leave me a note I love hearing from you!

Max A Resident At The Cottage

All posts on this blog are original content and may not be copied or paraphrased. You may use one photo with a brief description and a link back to my blog for roundups and collections. A comment on the post or an email is appreciated when using my photos.This blog was created for entertainment purposes only. Read my full disclosure here